New Habs AHL Team Unveils Logo, Uniforms

To borrow a headline sure to be used everywhere, the Laval Rocket *blasted off* this afternoon, the newest American Hockey League team unveiled their entire logo set and uniforms at a press event at a mall in the Quebec city located just north of Montreal.

The team name, chosen as a result of a fan vote, plays off the legend of hockey icon Maurice “Rocket” Richard who spent 18 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens winning 8 Stanley Cups in that span. Tributes to Richard have been added throughout the new logos and uniforms.

Wordmark logo on top, primary logo in middle, alternate logos on either side

The primary logo is a large blue and white “R” which features sharp serifs and an interior stroke meant to allude to Richard’s “explosive speed”. This logo is featured on the chest of both the home and road uniforms.

Two alternate logos were unveiled along with the primary logo, both of which are on the sleeve of the new uniforms. The first is a simple shield with “LE ROCKET” inside and a rocket’s flame at the bottom. The other, a number 9 in reference to that worn by Maurice Richard with a flame pushing it skyward.

Note, all of the logos are blue and white, which may not seem all that unusual until you see the uniforms and realize their primary team colour is in fact…

Red.

It kinda reminds me of the Quebec Nordiques, a team which used a logo almost entirely red but had no red outside the logo anywhere on their uniform.

The dark uniform is red with a white horizontal stripe… presumably a nod to the Canadiens rather than the Florida Panthers. This stripe extends all around the entire jersey. Collar is white with a “LAVAL” patch and white laces down the front to give it that traditional feel… a feeling which is immediately eliminated by the clutter down the sleeves and on the back of the uniform. In addition to the player number, each sleeve has *three* logo patches: the city name “LAVAL” on the shoulder followed by the player’s number then the alternate “shield” logo and finally the “#9 Rocket Ship” near the cuff. Yes, that’s two numbers on each sleeve.

The back of the jersey adds a flame below the blue split-style numbers as well as including the standard AHL/CCM branding (located both at the top and bottom of the jersey). This rocket flame is also on the back below the white stripe on the red socks.

Clutter. Can’t wait to see it with the advertising patch on the front. That’ll just complete the set.

The light uniform is a white inverse of the dark, the horizontal stripe and collar now red instead of white.

Despite my gripes about the uniform, I’m a fan of the set overall. The uniforms tried to do too much and instead ended up making things a little too crowded. Maybe throw the shield up on the shoulder, do away with that LAVAL patch, and I’d put the Richard #9 on the collar behind the laces.

The Laval Rocket will replace the St. John’s IceCaps for the 2017-18 season beginning this fall. They will play out of the still under construction Bell Place in Laval, Quebec. Laval was previously home to the Laval Titan of the junior QMJHL, Mario Lemieux spent his teen years in the city playing for the Laval Voisins from 1981 to 1984.